Great Rides: White Rim In A Day

Since October’s the best month of playing outside I’ll end it with one more classic ride: The White Rim in a day. I did this a few weeks back with my friend Jeff (partner during last year’s 25-hr Frog Hollow race) and we caught perfect conditions for this stunning tour of the Canyonlands.

niebrugge images

The White Rim Trail is one of the most scenic roads in the world. Except for a few miles on the mesa you’re never not looking at postcard view. Unfortunately my phone broke en route, which is probably good for this post as I’ll use other, much better, photos, which also will provide reference links for anyone interested in more info on this classic adventure.

Doing it in a day is not requisite and, in fact, while a fairly-common tick for ultra geeks, is probably not the best way to do it. If I were going to pay a company to SAG for a long ride this might be the one. As Jeff said, “I can’t imagine there’s a better mountain bike tour in the world”. There are many Moab outfits happy to do this, like this one.

We, both ultra geeks, opted to skip the booze cruise option. If you found your way here it’s your lucky day as I’m going to provide some key beta. Jeff is a Moab local, spends an inordinate time exploring, and has thus learned many tricks for efficiency in the desert.

Look at the above topo. Now move the start to the bottom of the big finishing climb. We parked about a mile down this road, meaning that we had most of our climbing done before breakfast. We also stashed most of our water at the park entrance so we were able to climb without a ton of weight. Since it’s the least scenic part of the ride we also did it in the dark so that sunrise hit just as we were entering the good stuff. This piece of beta both gave us a nice warm-up during the chilly morning but also allowed us to finish on the flats along the river, instead of with a brutal climb. It was aesthetically perfect.

schaefer switchbacks: pat bonish

The riding on the White Rim, while technically easy, is challenging over the course of a day. Miles of slickrock beat you down and, by the end, my hands hurt more than anything else. At one point I made a comment on training for Paris-Roubaix and we spent a few miles mulling over the possibility of doing it on a road bike before dismissing it as nothing more than self-flagellation. You can ride the White Rim on anything but the more suspension you have the happier you’ll probably be.

a couple of the climbs are steep. good link for those looking for a more complete trip report

For us the ride was more style. Doing the climb in the dark also allowed us more time for sightseeing. We spent close to 2.5 hours poking around and still finished well before dark. We even got lucky and found this.

Jeff is the most interesting man in the desert, surely. He knows everything about the canyonlands and its history. Not only can he suffer but he’s also an excellent climber and has spent the last few decades on the trail of the Anasazi and Fremont. He’s is constantly filling in the authorities on locations of new archeological sites, which means I had a first rate historical tour of the White Rim and everything you can see from it. This, I suppose, is another reason why you might want to do this one guided, even if you opt to do it in a day.

Great Road Rides: Salt Lake City

80 miles, 3 iconic climbs, epic scenery, and not a single stop light; it just can’t get much better.

I’ve ridden my bike all over the world and this is one of the better rides I've done. If you have a free day in SLC, some fitness (8’000-ish feet of climbing), and prefer roads over trails, this is the one. The only caveat is that you have to be willing to get your precious road bike dirty a couple of times. Otherwise, it’s pure Nirvana.

The ride begins at Blue Star Coffee in Canyon Rim (in SLC at 23rd and the 80). They have fresh juice, roast their own beans, and make fantastic bagel sandwiches. It’s also the home of Wasatch Bike Support so not only can you fuel up you can pick up supplies and maybe squeeze in a last-minute tune (don't tell Tyson or Chris I said they'd have time to tune you bike on the spot but they probably will if it's nothing major). They carry Hammer, Honey Stinger, and assorted other foods for your ride.

Begin heading east on the frontage road. Turn left on a small path by the baseball field to access the bike path through Parley’s Historic Nature Park. Ride through the park, over the 215, and turn left (north) on the bike path junction.

The bike path delivers you onto Foothill Blvd for your only foray into traffic, which lasts less than a minute. At the light (you see a few lights but always have a right turn), turn right and immediately left, following bike path signs. Ride north through a neighborhood, then climb up through a golf course. Make a left at the top of the hill and descend to Sunnyside Dr (Emigration Canyon Rd).

Climb Emigration Canyon. It’s a fairly easy 7-mile (approx. 1,500’) climb leading to a nice summit, aka Little Mountain. Emigration usually has some traffic but it has a great bike lane, is usually busy with cyclists, and almost always very pleasant.

Descend off the back to East Canyon. Turn left. Climb Big Mountain. This one’s a bit stiffer, feels more isolated, and offers an outstanding summit.

Drop off the back of Big. Now the ride feels remote as you’re looking at open space as far as you can see. If it all looks familiar, it's because the Tour of Utah rides it (in reverse) most years.

at the summit of big. weather can be a little spotty at times.

Near the bottom of the descent look for a right turn (might be a sign to Jeremy Ranch, which comes and goes) on a dirt road and get ready to Paris-Roubaix out for a few miles. Training tires/wheels (with plenty of air to avoid pinch flats) recommended.

When the road becomes tarmac again you’re in Jeremy Ranch. At the gas station, turn left on the frontage road (more scenic than it sounds). Take this past the next junction (hwy 224 and I-80) for another half a mile and turn right, go under the 80, and immediately left onto Highland Dr. Hop onto the bike path and follow it along Highland to Silver Creek Rd. Turn left and cross the 40, then right onto the frontage road (again, much nicer than it sounds).

If you need fuel there’s a gas station here with a pretty decent restaurant inside.

Take the frontage road to the next junction. Turn left (away from Park City) and in about a quarter mile turn right onto the bike path. Follow this into Park City.

When you hit White Pine Touring (bike shop if you need anything) you have a choice to make. It’s faster to jump on the road here but I prefer to stay on the bike path and cruise up through Old Town. Stay alert for a small sign saying “Deer Valley” which takes you through a tunnel and off of the bike path at the round-a-bout (there's only one), where you take Deer Valley Dr (not Marcac) uphill. On the streets you'd go left at White Pine. Left at the light (ugh, a light you might have to wait for!), and left at the roundabout.

Just before the ski area turn right onto Royal Street. Take this iconic climb (for locals anyway--it's a perfect climb: winding, scenic, great tarmac, not too steep) to just before its end (at Silver Lake) and take the short descent down Guardsman Connector to Marsac and keep climbing.

Your first really steep pitch just before Empire Lodge, a taste of things to come. If you need water, supplies, or a bathroom you’ll want to stop here. Empire Lodge is very bike friendly all summer but closes in Sept. Fuel up as, even though you’ve only got a few hard miles left, you’re about to earn your ride.

You can bail from here, ride down the main route through Park City, Jeremy Ranch, Summit Park (a short climb), descend Parley’s Canyon (on I-80), and get back to SLC with hardly any energy expenditure. But if you’ve come this far you might as well dig a little and earn your beer.

Leaving Empire the ride is different. So far, even though there's been a lot of climbing (probably 50 miles and 6,000'), it's been pretty civil. The road now, for the first time all day, is seriously steep. At the top of Deer Valley (only a mile or so), you have a brief descent, and then start heading up Guardsman’s Pass road. Get ready to rumble.

view to the east

NOTE: the next paragraph is now in the name of lore, this section has been paved. It's not nice pavement, and it's still steep, but much easier to ride than it once was. Some might even say it improves things. Not me. The road quickly turns to dirt. Steep dirt. Steep, slightly gravelly dirt. And not all that compact (varies with the season). Some sections are smooth. Others not. It will force you to pick lines and, for some reason, there always seems to be more traffic than you want, which is none, because it both kicks up dust and reduces your ability to choose the best line. It's only a couple of miles but it takes fitness, technique, and mainly the desire to do it. But hang in there because you’re about to be rewarded with a 20-mile, 5,000' descent--well worth a bit o’ toiling about.

view to the west

Enjoy the descent of Big Cottonwood canyon. Yee-haw. If you're parched, cold, or hungry you pass Silver Fork Lodge a few miles off the top. They have both local coffee and beer, a lots of assorted diner-style food.

At the bottom of Big, turn right at the light and then make another right at the next light at Wasatch Blvd. Follow Wasatch a couple of miles and turn right just before an obviously up hill on Fortuna Dr. You can finish your ride on Wasatch but we’re avoiding stop lights in the name of aesthetics so...

Climb Fortuna (steep for half a mile) and then descend it to Jupiter. Go left and take the first right and then the first left (both come quickly). You should be on Hale St that will hit Parkview shortly. Go left and down to the Mill Creek junction (4 way stop). Go straight through the stop and turn right on Wasatch. Turn right at the light, which winds around left. At the end of Wasatch Blvd is the bike path you started on. Take this down to the right fork, go back across the freeway (215) and through Parley’s to finish at Blue Star. Then hope George has got his beer license sorted out.

Butte 100: The Eyeopener

I really wanted to quit the Butte 100. I wanted to quit a mile 10. I wanted to quit at mile 50. And I really wanted to quit at mile 80. I wanted to quit so bad I even tried to before I left home. But I didn’t. And I’m glad.

“Why are you so worried about this race?” asked Romney. “You never worry about this kind of stuff.”

I was worried because it was going to hurt. Bad. I wasn’t sure how bad it would be, exactly, because I’d never been to the area. But as they were throwing around tag lines like “hardest 100 mile race in the US” I figured it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk no matter how fit I was. But I wasn’t fit. Not for endurance racing at least, since I’d only had time to eek out a couple of long rides this year.

“Die or do something. You’re not dead yet, so you might as well do something.”

This campy line, uttered by Dr. Conrad of the Jackie Robinson Sports Institute in the film American Flyers, became my mantra for the day. Each time I wanted to quit I’d do a body assessment. I wasn’t injured. The stuff that hurt was all GOOD pain. And as long as that was the case I would have no choice. I wasn’t dead, yet, so I’d might as well do something.

life at the jackie robinson sports institute

My friend Mike says he likes to start his seasons with “an eye opener. Something so ridiculously hard that you know you’re going to suffer like mad that will set the tone for anything else you do.” Butte was my eye opener. I had to get through it to transform into the proper mindset for Nepal. Here’s a little recap.

Blast It!!!

It began the night before at a suspiciously bad Mexican restaurant. Montana is, as Josh says, “not exactly known for its Mexican food” and this experience would echo that in spades. Josh sent a pic to the gang that came back with replies like “Blast It!!!”, a line from a friend’s surf film.


mining the waves for stoke

This was prophetic enough as I spent a good deal of the race alone in the forest. Curious aside, we saw Tinker Juarez (probably the most decorated distance mtn biker in history) at the restaurant and wondered if he chose it on purpose to make him uncomfortable so he’d go faster. Could be, since he obliterated his own course record.

Part I – A sadistic sightseeing tour of Montana

As it wasn’t a race for me I began comfortably in the back of the pack, only going fast enough so that I was in last so there would be people behind me in case I got lost. This turned out not to be a problem as the course was very well marked. Josh said the first section—a series of steep sandy fire roads to spread the field—was awful and, well, I guess it was. But it sure was pretty.

I’m very geographically oriented, especially when I’m outside, and almost always know where I am. In this race I hadn’t a clue and was enjoying the weird sensation of having never been in the area or even looked at a map. Since I wasn’t really racing, the experience was like a sadistic sightseeing tour of Montana.

I rode a lot with Josh, who was having a worse day than me. Not sure if it was the Blast It! effect or something else but he wasn’t regulating very well as the temps got high, which had me a worried about him when I rode away on the final long climb of the first 50.

Part II – No threat to the growler.

I got the halfway point at 5:30. I’d heard the second half had “more single track” and was slower and harder but this seemed way ahead of my planned survival pace. I considered re-stocking at my van but didn’t because I was worried that the lure of beer and a bed might be too much. I also heard the Tinker was already hours ahead and rolled through this point without stopping, asking only for a banana, which seemed so crazily IN-sane and had to see the entire course. So I headed onto the second half chatting with a guy about how slow we could ride and still make the cutoff times.


tinker after losing his first butt 100. he has lowered his time nearly 3 hours in two years since. wild.

The next few aid stations went great. I didn’t even want to quit. I was tired but the only thing that really hurt was my butt, not surprising given I’d already eclipsed my longest ride of the year. As I was chilling in the shade at talking about cutoff times a guy told me I was in 55th, elaborating on that as “no threat to the growler.” Apparently a growler of beer was awarded to the last place finisher of the race, which sounded so good I started to ride even slower.

Part III - Sandbagged!

Anything advertising itself as “the toughest…” has to include something understated that is truly hard. In the Butte 100 it’s the section between check points 7 and 8 (or was it 8 and 9?) Anyway, it looks the same as any other section in the race bible. In reality it’s really friggin’ hard.

The bible warns you of the 4-mile (sometimes un-rideable—though we think Tinker rode it) climb but the rest of the section looks pretty benign, so I did a double take when the course official at the top of the climb told me “two more major climbs” before the aid station.” I was not alone. I ran out of water at least an hour before I got there. It was grim but I was passing people looking a lot worse than me. I think it was the longest 10 miles of my life.

The Highlands aid station resembled a triage unit. Riders were strewn about, all complaining about the same thing as me, some dropping out. Here, I did want to quit—especially when a squall rolled through transforming my state from overheated and dehydrated to hypothermic in an instant. Thankfully I was far enough ahead of the cutoff time I was able to spend about an hour drinking and warming up.

Part IV – Finally, a good excuse to quit

The rigors behind us forced some comradeship for those who ventured into the next section of the course, ominously dubbed “8 miles of Hell”. I was the last to leave of my group and, by now, the cutoff time was looming. When in less than a mile in I was forced off of my bike to walk almost an entire climb I started doing math calculating my chances. At this time another American Flyers line came into my head. I’d better pump.


more fun from american flyers. “better pump.”

This kicked in some adrenaline, as there was absolutely no way I was going to do all of this riding and not be allowed to finish. I picked up my pace and passed our entire group. Then, as I was about to crest to final climb “of Hell” I ran into a situation.

A woman in the 50-mile race had stopped sweating, for some time, and then become hypothermic when the storm hit. Someone had stopped to help but they didn’t have a phone. I did, but calls for a rescue weren’t answered. So I called Josh, now hoping he’d dropped out. He had, answered, and we got things in motion. Unfortunately, most of the course does not have cell reception and it was hard to organize so we had to come up with a plan.

Obviously I didn’t care about finishing any longer. However, the best tactic was for me to ride for help and the shortest place that might be was ahead on the course. Sarah, another rider from our group, had also arrived on the scene to help so I left them with my phone and took off, riding harder and much faster than I had all day. I soon found a course official but he had no service, so I filled him in and rode on. Josh had set things up and there were paramedics at the aid station and we strategized about what to do. Soon Sarah arrived with a report and, eventually, a plan was hatched that didn’t include us, meaning we had nothing left to do but finish the race. We hung out for a while, then “cruised” (relative at this point) that last 9 miles to the finish together. The end of an epic day and a perfect eye opener for what lies ahead.

Notes on the Butte 100: Tinker raves about this race on his blog, not just as a race but as a challenge for any recreational rider to finish. I have to agree. While the course isn’t as pure as the 99.9% single track of the Park City Point 2 Point, the fire roads are always engaging, technical, and stunningly-beautiful and there is plenty of excellent single track. I told a few course officials that it would be an amazing 100-mile ultra run course and think the combo would kick the crap out of Leadville, at least from an aesthetic and difficulty perspective. The Butte scene itself is positive and very supportive, which seems to be spearheaded by the Leipheimers, all of whom gregariously introduced themselves and shared about anything I felt like listening to. The event feels like a family affair (I didn't ask but race director Gina Evans is probably a Leipheimer somehow), which is getting more rare these days, so get after it before it turns into Leadville!

An Open Letter To The Tour of Utah

With the Tour of California having just ended, wouldn’t it be great to have another big stage race in the US that would keep the international peloton racing here for a while? Today’s edition of fantasy psyche offers a solution.

A few years back I spoke with the Tour of Utah’s founder, the late Terry McGinnis, about the possibility of it becoming a point to point tour across one of the most beautiful geographic regions in the world. He said that was his ultimate dream. With the success of the Tour of California I think the time for Terry's dream has arrived. I’ve been playing around with various possible routes this tour could take for years. Here is my proposition for expanding the already cool Tour of Utah (valley) into an actual tour of the great state of Utah.

While I have no time to arrange such an event the organizers might. If not, here’s an open letter to the public hoping someone will take the reins and make it happen. I’ll be the first one in line for the amateur version, which would certainly become one of the most sought after events on the amateur tour rider’s calendar.

The first thing on my agenda should be to move the race up to last week of May/1st of June (between ToC and Dauphine Libre) in order to couple it with the ToC as part of the prep schedule for the Tour de France. This would enhance scenery as the mountain tops are still snow covered, as well as make the riding temps more Tour like (blistering hot in the deserts and frigid on the summits). The kids will be in school and route passes many small town schools, where organized could motivate them to participate. Summer tourist season will have begun, to provide good crowds, but not yet be in full swing so lodging will be more plentiful and easier to organize.

I visualize three versions:

Amateur tour (early AM start)
Women’s race (early start)
Men’s (late start to plan daily finish late afternoon/post work)

Taglines: hardest stage race in the US, most beautiful race/bike tour in the world


The Stages


Stage 1, Sunday: Moab to Moab
Approx 75 miles, 4,000’ elevation gain

Ride out of Moab over the Big Nasty climb, descend Castle Valley, follow River Road back into two and finish when a number of circuits (to be determined) around town. Short stage with one major climb early, 5 star scenery.

Climber points: Big Nasty summit (with bonus seconds so this summit will be raced agressively)
Sprint points: Finish (with bonus seconds)
Transfer to stage 2: 2.5 hours. Amateur and women lodge in Torrey or Hanksville. Men in Moab.

Stage 2, Monday: Torrey to Brian Head
Approx 160 miles, 12,000’ elevation gain

Epic stage with a moutain top finish along “the most scenic drive in the US”. While insanely long with two major climbs, this stage trends down hill and should be fairly fast for most of its length. Climb out of Torrey is out of the gate and the stage should then be fast until the final long but not horrendously steep drag up to Brian Head at 10,000’. This promises to be one of the most beautiful bike routes ever raced. Perhaps start women’s race in Boulder and amateur in Escalante, both versions eliminating the first big climb and making the lodging logistics simpler.

Climber points: major points for first climb out of Torrey and Brian Head finish. Two minor point climbs in between.
Sprint points: Sprints held in towns of Boulder, Escalante, Tropic, Panguitch
Transfer to stage 3: 45 minutes. Lodging at Brian Head, Cedar City, and Parawon

Stage 3, Tuesday: Cedar City to St. George
Approx 100 miles, 3,000’ elevation gain

Fast stage with a lot of down hill riding. One medium climb near the end through Snow Canyon State Park could weed out some sprinters but with 10 miles and circuits still to race will likely come back together. Head west of of Cedar City, then south using back roads when possible. Finish with afternoon circuits in downtown St. George to encourage large crowds and events.

Climber points: a few minor climbs and then good points for the Snow Canyon climb
Sprint points: Sprints held in towns of Enterprise, Veyo, Santa Clara, and maybe into town
Transfer to stage 4: 2.5 hours. Amateurs and women stay in Richmond. Pros in St George of Cedar City.

Stage 4, Wednesday: Richfield to Mt Nebo
Approx: 90 miles, 5,000’ elevation gain

Fast flat stage for 80 miles (and a likely tailwind) to a massive climb and summit finish on Mt Nebo. Scenic ride up route 89 with many intermediate sprints to engage the town citizens with what should be a spirited fight for sprinters jersey. Epic finish.

Climber points: couple of minor points en route.
Sprint points: Sprints in Gunnison, Manti, Ephraim, Moroni, always in front of schools or business districts to increase crowds.
Transfer to stage 5: 1 hour

Stage 5, Thursday: Salt Lake City to Salt Lake City
Approx: 75 miles

Challenging circuit race downtown Salt Lake City with a party-like atmosphere. Amateur ride will tackle the “Ronde van SLC” course (75-mile tour of the Salt Lake valley and benches that features all of the toughest bergs, or short urban climbs.)

Climber points: probably each lap on the “Capital climb”
Sprint points: many primes
Transfer to stage 5: 45 minutes

Stage 6, Friday: Ogden to Park City
Approx: 90 miles, 5,000’ elevation gain

After parading around downtown Ogden, the riders engage in one downtown sprint prime and then head east taking the back roads to Park City, finally finishing on a number of challening circuits through downtown Park City, perhaps also using the Royal Street climb if very hard circuits are desired.

Climber points: numerous minor points available
Sprint points: available in Ogden, Morgan, Coalvillle, Kamas
Transfer to stage 6: 1 hour to Miller Motorsports Park

Stage 7, Saturday: Larry H. Miller Motorsports Park
Approx: 50 miles or TT

Saturday at the races will feature a cycling festival with an entire day of events, demos, films, music, amateur races, etc. Amateur tour has a day off and free entry to the festival. A crit would probably be more fun for the fans but organizers may wish to do a TT instead, even though a flat TT has little meaning in a race with this many mountains and the sprint jersey competition will likely be fierce.

Transfer to stage 8: back to Park City

Stage 8, Sunday: Park City to Snowbird
Approx: 120 miles, 13,000’ elevation gain

The queen stage once again. Not much else needs to be said about this one. It’s been the pinnacle of the race every year and should stay that way.

Climber points: big mountain points available prior to the final climb
Sprint points: a few to motivate the sprint jersey to get over the climbs

Sedona’s Big Friggin’ Loop

“If you had only one day to ride in Sedona which trails would you do?” I asked, not expecting a definitive reply since it’s rumored to be one of the world’s foremost mountain biking destinations. In the middle of an answer filled with qualifiers I interrupted, “How about the Big Friggin’ Loop?” to which eyes squinted, sizing me up, before deciding I might be the type who would try such a thing alone and then, answering, in decidedly non-qualified fashion “fuck yeah!”

I’d heard about The Big Friggin’ Loop earlier this year. Unfortunately I couldn’t get away to ride it with the group but I knew, from the first description, I was going to try it sometime. And, as long as it had approval from the locals, it seemed worth trying alone. It’s exactly the kind of ride I’d concoct on my own and, in fact, has similar ambitions to my Park City link-up; a circle around town with samples from each separate trail system.

The distance was tamer but the technicalities promised to be greater. As Big Jonny at The Drunk Cyclist so eloquently waxed:

At a “mere” 37 miles, a few hardened heads even bailed on the idea in wait for the longer distances of later events. But there’s an exception to this need given the Sedona area. Riding there isn’t the smooth roller singletrack one might anticipate for a long ride. It’s a hop-scotch full of premium obstacles on sublime singletrack for its entirety. A core workout if you will, will you? There’s no real significant place on the route where one can settle into the aero bars what with the ledges upon rocks upon curvy things with more rocks and abrupt turns with no flagman. Chutes and Ladders and Vortexes. Questionable drops and descents. Questionable traction on uphills. Herkenham by authority of Chad? River crossings and the like. That’s the gist, and the gist is good. By the time it was over, I didn’t want anymore.

The route finding seemed tricky, with or without a GPS (see above link), but, given you were always above town, if things get grim you can point your bike down hill and will back in civilization in a matter of minutes. I bought a map and studied it for a route, sans GPS, that would most likely be the BFL course. A few beers later and I was 100% certain I had it nailed. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. Below is the course I chose, where it went right and where it went wrong, in an attempt aid you in trying this adventure solo. That said, I highly recommend trying to make the race. It would have been nice to have some local knowledge out there.

Part I: Broken Arrow Trailhead to Bike & Bean

I began my ride on the system the organized event ended on for two reasons. First, I didn’t know how bad the river crossings were and wanted to ask someone and, second, I thought I’d get some miles in before having breakfast at the Bike & Bean.

Broken Arrow was tough for me out of the gate. It would have been nice to warm-up a little longer. It’s both climbed steadily and was technical and my slow pace had me slightly concerned. Very ride able in a downhill direction; I was off my bike too much going up. Regardless, it was a nice trail with gorgeous views. At Chicken Point I dropped into Little Horse and flew down it to Llama, which turned out to be one of my favorite trails of the day. After Llama I wanted more to get more riding in before breakfast so, instead of heading down the Bell Rock path I chose to ride Templeton out to Slim Shady and took it back. The latter might be my favorite trail of the day; it’s always technical but still flowy and fun.

slim shady follows a creek bed with a perfect blend of rocks, single track, and slick rock.

This first section was five star riding, with the only difficult place to navigate being the start of the unmarked Slim Shady trail. If you ride in from Llama via Bell Rock it’s easier to catch the Slim Shady start at the Bike & Bean, which I’d recommend.

a great shop with fantastic coffee. highly recommended pit stop in the middle of your ride.

Part II: Cathedral Rock system to Airport Loops to Euro Café

I was pretty confident, riding Templeton under the Cathedral Rocks on a fast flowy trail, that things were going to go without a hitch. It took me a little while to find Red Rock crossing, which seemed barely crossable so I can see how this bit can be dicey at times of the year (I think there’s a place to cross on the road but I didn’t find it). Then I hit my first sandbag of the day.

I asked a ranger where the Old Post trail started. She didn’t know but thought if I went up Ridge I could get there. My map showed something else but, as I was ahead of schedule I decided to give it a shot. This was probably a mistake.

don’t take this trail in this direction

It was pretty obvious right away that I was on a trail not ridden much and generally in the opposite direction I was going. Unlike the well marked paths I’d been on the soil was loose, steep, and lacked many tread marks. The trail leveled after a while and came to an intersection with trails not on my map so I kept climbing. At one point I made another mistake (I think) by taking a trail heading left up a ridge. This was very narrow, often without room to get between trees or rocks and a lot of exposure, and had very little wear. Certainly, this was a downhill trail. I was walking way too much of it, and getting a little irritated, but figured I’d be heading down soon enough.

steep, exposed, but mighty pretty

When I hit the top even the downhill was hard, and was made even harder when I saw my intended path, the Old Post Trail, far below. It looked fun and fast.

supposed to be down there

Eventually I connected back with the Ridge, which felt paved by comparison to whatever I was on. As much as I was irritated by this trail and my route finding skills I would ride it a lot if it were at home. I’d just do it in the other direction.

Then I got lost again. And again. I’d heard from Reed that his favorite trails were unmarked behind the airport, which is where I was. Being Reed’s favorite meant technical and down and, I figured, I’d probably just come up one of those. I decided my rule would be to follow the trail marked with the most tire tracks from now on. This didn’t help that much as I ended up doing some circles. There’s a lot of unmarked and well trodden riding in this area. Luckily, all of it was good so being lost was pretty much just fine. I finally popped out on route 89A, out of water, and went looking for somewhere to rehydrate.

Even though I got lost the riding in this section was almost all excellent. The ride was still getting 5 stars, assuming a 5-star scale.

how can a self-respecting cyclist not stop here?

Part III: Dry Creek to Jim Thompson

After lunch I headed into the Dry Creek trail system where I also knew was going to offer similar challenges as the airport area; a network of unmarked but fun, well-ridden trails. Well, some are marked but I was trying to avoid Girdner (the main trail) as much as possible, because I heard it was sandy this time of year, and was looking for a new trail the guy at the shop recommended. I didn’t find it and, after some time, found Lizard Head and began heading towards Chimney Rock.

Here things got a little ugly. I turned left onto the Chimney Rock trail (cause it made sense on the map), which was an often un-ride able climb to a Wilderness sign. Since you weren’t supposed to ride in designated wilderness I knew I was off route. But I kept going because, hell, I was walking at this point anyway so I wasn’t breaking any rules and according to my map I was very close to a trail junction. Luckily the trail began descending, quite steeply, back down towards the legal Thunder Mtn trail where I figured things would improve. Not so much.

Thunder Mtn doesn’t seem to get ridden a ton. It was hot, dusty, quite technical and very very slow. I’m pretty sure you could out run even a good cyclist on this section as it winds around up and down over rocks. It was uncomfortably consistently. I wanted it to end.

looking down on teacup

My map showed a skull and crossbones on the next trail, Teacup, but it felt sublime compared to Thunder Mtn. Teacup did end up throwing the techie stuff at me (along with exposure) but it’s a beautiful trail nonetheless.

there are a few sink holes around sedona. these are deep holes with abundant life but no way in. fascinating geography.

This was followed with the slightly less technical, but still engaging, Jordan Trail that finally (must have been getting tired) ended at the Jim Thompson trail head.

riding the delicate balance between alcohol and caffeine

Here is where this year’s BFL would end and, as the river crossings at Huckaby were still impassible, it’s where mine was slated to stop also. But the lure of the Jim Thompson Trail was strong as I’d assumed it was named after the pulp author who’d often written about the southwestern US. “Life is a delicate balance between alcohol and caffeine,” he famously penned, and with my coffee buzz well gone I was looking forward to a cold beer at the end of the ride. It just made sense to end on this trail. There was a road section back to the car either way but I could get there from both the beginning and the end of Jim Thompson, so on I went.

A few minutes later I began to have second thoughts. I couldn’t find any tire tracks on the trail and whenever this had happened today things went south. Big Jonny hadn’t sounded sorry to be missing this section of the original BFL so it got me wondering why the trail wasn’t ridden more. Then, perhaps in a dehydrated state, I began to second guess the trail name. Was I mixing Jim Thompson up with author Jim Harrison? And wasn’t the lobbyist, Presidential candidate and sometime actor Jim Thompson from Arizona? That guy’s an asshole. When my noir sentiments were replaced with “a Ruskie don’t take a dump without a plan,” the latter Thompson’s line from The Hunt For Red October, allure of Jim Thompson began to fade. I turned around, rode out to pavement, and headed towards the car. It was time to balance out the caffeine.

Overall, I’d say the BFL is one of the best rides I’ve ever done. Only the Lizard Head to Teapot section, and a little of Jim Thompson and a bit of the Ridge-ish line, was truly unpleasant and none of it was that bad. The rest was faaaaantastic. For sure with more experience in the area you could improve the loop but it’s not a ridiculous thing to try and on sight. Go do it.